1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a voice communications method, a voice communications system, and a recording medium for recording the programs therefore, that are used in a network system in which there are a plurality of connected terminals for carrying out conversation between the users of these terminals.
This specification is based on patent applications previously filed in Japan (Japanese Patent Application Hei 11-192012, Japanese Patent Application Hei 11-204533, and Japanese Patent Application 2000-118599), these applications being incorporated within this specification as a portion thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a network system having a plurality of connected terminals, the server provides a number of virtual spaces that can be accessed through these terminals. When multiple terminals access the same virtual space, the users of these terminals are displayed by a specific display form (hereinafter referred to as an “avatar”) within the virtual space that is being displayed on each terminal's screen display device. When multiple terminal users converse with one another in the network system described above, the data sent from the terminal of the user who is talking (hereinafter, referred to as the “talker terminal”) is first received at the server. The server mixes data received from multiple terminals, and then sends the mixed data to the terminals (hereinafter, referred to as “listener terminals”) which are accessing the same virtual space as the talker terminal.
In the above-described network system, a number of methods are used to clarify who the talker is. For example, in the case of a character chat for sending and receiving character data, the characters indicated by the character data are displayed on the talker's avatar. Alternatively, the talker's name and the aforementioned characters may be displayed together in a display column (a window, etc.) that is separate from the virtual space. On the other hand, in the case of a voice chat for sending and receiving voice data, the talker's avatar display changes as the voice is being output. For example, a specific mark (a ripple, etc.) can be applied to the talker's avatar, or the lips of the talker's avatar may move. The technology for displaying an avatar in virtual space is disclosed in pages 282 to 307 of CYBERSPACE, Michael Benedikt, NTT Human Interface Laboratories, NTT Publications, ISBN 4-87188-265-9C0010.
Although conventional voice communications methods enable the talker to be identified, it has not been possible for the talker to know whether or not his voice has reached the listener. For this reason, each time he makes an utterance, the talker must verbally confirm that his voice has reached the listener by asking “can you hear me?,” for example.
Moreover, in conventional voice communications methods, each terminal user recognizes that another party has begun to speak (hereinafter referred to as “utterance”) as a result of the output of that party's voice. However, since voice data is comparatively large data, the arrival of voice data from the talker terminal at the listener terminal is slightly delayed. In addition, a slight delay in the arrival of voice data may arise due to variation in traffic and buffering in the above-described network system. In addition, as mentioned above, voice data sent from the talker terminal is not directly received at the listener terminal, but rather is first received at the server. This also results in a delay. Since the arrival of the data is slightly delayed in this way, good conversational timing has been difficult to achieve in conventional voice communications methods due to such problems as voice data from the other parties arriving just as the user begins to speak, or arriving immediately after the user has spoken, etc. For this reason, users must converse while anticipating this delay, making this arrangement quite inconvenient and burdensome to the user.
In addition, when a user of an avatar within a given virtual space wants to have a personal conversation (private talk) only with a user of a particular avatar that is in the same virtual space, then these users have had to form a private group for this purpose. Specifically, in the case where a given virtual space is being accessed by terminals A to D, and the user of terminal A wishes to converse only with the user of terminal B, then the terminal A user invites the terminal B user to participate in a private group. If the terminal B user agrees, then terminal A and terminal B form a private group which persists until it is dissolved by both users, in which the voice from terminal A reaches only terminal B and the voice from terminal B reaches only terminal A. During the time that the private group is present, however, neither of the participating users (i.e., the users of terminals A and B) can initiate conversation with nor hear voices from users that are not participating in the private group (i.e., the users of terminals C and D).